NOTES. 338 



hole completed after two days work. Possibly this case 

 was exceptional, and the bird may have been ejected from a 

 hole when about to lay. The male of the Continental Green 

 Woodpecker, which probably does not differ in its habits 

 from the English bird, has been observed in the act of boring 

 by Herr C. Loos, and most Continental observers ascribe the 

 greater share of the work of nest-boring to the male Wood- 

 peckers in other species. — F. C. R. Jourdain.] 



ACTIONS OF A KINGFISHER ON THE WATER. 



While fishing in Ynisyfro Reservoir, near Newport, Mon- 

 mouthshire, on March 20th, 1912, I noticed a bird on the 

 water about one hundred yards from land. It was making 

 its way rapidly to the side by a series of hops — something 

 like a stone thrown along the surface — striking the water 

 and bounding up again with the aid of its Vvings, After about 

 a dozen such hops it would sit on the water to rest. I thought 

 it was a starling, and watched carefully, to see if it could 

 swim, but am certain that it made no attempt to do so. 

 Upon reaching the place where it landed, I found it was a 

 Kingfisher {Alcedo ispida). Its neck and one wing were 

 injured — I think by flying against a telephone wire that runs 

 near the pond — and it could not fly. Its feathers were hardly 

 wet. R. C. Banks. 



[On one occasion a young Kingfisher, not long out of the 

 nest, came flying round a corner where I was standing. It 

 turned away rapidly, but flying low struck the water, and was 

 unable to recover itself, flapping along the surface and half 

 turning itself in the water with each stroke. It was only 

 with the greatest difficulty that it managed to reach the 

 opposite bank. As far as I could see it appeared to be very 

 wet, but as it was able to fly away before I could reach it, 

 I had no opportunity of handling it. No attempt whatever 

 was made to swim, the bird sitting half submerged in the 

 water, when it paused for a moment from exhaustion. — 



F. C. R. JOURDAIK.] 



LITTLE OWL IN SOUTH DEVON. 



I WAS informed by Lieut. H. Wells, R.N., that while he was 

 shooting in November, 1911, along the cliff at Thurlestone, 

 south Devon, a Little Owl {Athene iioctua) flew out right at 

 his feet. He refrained from shooting it, but had not the 

 slightest doubt about the identification, having often come 

 across the bird out of England. A. H. Machell Cox. 



